Unclaimed bodies, Fired Parole Chief, CIA Conspiracy, And Ban on Lofts

What do all of these current issues have in common? Homelessness is tied to each of them.

The LA Times reports today that the County’s morgue can’t handle the number of corpses that need to be stored there. The building is designed to hold 300-350 bodies, but they usually have over 400 bodies… And many of these unclaimed bodies are people who are homeless.

It was also reported today that the State Parole Chief was fired. One of the purported reasons for his firing was the placement of so many paroled sex offenders near Disneyland. Another reason… the stomping death of the homeless woman in downtown “Skid Row” by a parolee released from jail.

The one-year ban on converting low-cost residential hotels into high-end lofts in downtown Los Angeles is a good thing. The reason for such a ban by the L.A. City Council… to make sure the poor and homeless who live in these residential hotels are not pushed out onto the streets.

And finally… here is a bizarre article on the web. It says that the CIA “helped spread cocaine in black ghettos” with the drug profits used to fund the CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contra army in the early 1980s. The article says that this CIA conspiracy is the real reason why there are African American homeless on our streets addicted to drugs.

Sadly, homelessness is interwoven within many societal issues today…

Long Beach Continues Their Ten Year Homelessness Planning

The Institute For The Study of Homelessness and Poverty (ISHP) is highlighting the City of Long Beach’s Ten Year Planning process. (I’m privileged to be on the City’s Working Group for this plan.)

Here is the City of Long Beach’s link to their planning. It provides an abundant list of resources and studies on homelessness.

Here are some interesting facts on homelessness in Long Beach (Thanks to ISHP for these):

· There are 24,000 homeless persons in Long Beach over the course of the year, with some 2,787 at risk of becoming homeless.

· There are 795 homeless families on any given night in Long Beach.

· 24% of Long Beach residents live in poverty (2003).

· Of the 1,198 foster youth under 18 in Long Beach, more than half (58%) will become homeless upon emancipation.

· Almost 1/3, or 32.2% of homeless persons in Long Beach had a physical or mental disability (2004).

“Havens for hard-ups”

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board continues its groundbreaking opinions on homelessness today (kudos to LAMP and OPCC for their terrific work with the homeless):

“Havens for hard-ups”: Nonjudgmental services can be crucial for the chronically homeless.

__________

WHY IS IT THAT SOME homeless people get off the streets within a few weeks while others remain there year after senseless year? The disheartening answer is that the majority of the chronically homeless are mentally ill, addicted to drugs or both. And too often they refuse help because service providers demand that they first agree to follow rules requiring them to remain sober, take medication or attend prayer services.

Lamp Community in downtown Los Angeles has a different idea. Clean, bright and worlds away from the chaos of skid row outside its front door, the center is one of only two "safe haven" shelters in the region to target the chronically homeless who are mentally ill. It's a place short on rules and long on services. Residents come and go as they please, taking or leaving the generous supply of mental health and substance abuse programs on site. They can stay for 10 days or 10 years, though the goal is to coax them into permanent housing as soon as possible.

Sounds like a soft-touch approach, but the community's morning meetings tell a different story. Earlier this week at 9 a.m. sharp, 15 residents sat in a circle and talked house business, making communal decisions with the efficiency of a well-trained sales team. One needed help getting a new state ID card. Another wanted to know where the house's community barbecue would be held later in the week. The group agreed to put off a vote on a rule about nightly curfews until more residents could weigh in. A vote? Community BBQs? These are people who just weeks ago lived in bedlam and slept under freeways.

"Safe havens" cost about $20,000 a year per resident, paid for by local, state and federal tax dollars, along with some private foundation money. That may sound like a lot, but consider that the average long-term homeless person costs local taxpayers an estimated $40,000 a year in services.

And the two local "safe havens" — Lamp Community and Ocean Park Community Center in Santa Monica — report that about two-thirds of their residents successfully move on to permanent housing.

Some people believe that the chronically homeless are treatment-resistant bums who relish the "freedom" of living as they want. The reality is that treatment centers may too often resist them.

How Many Murders/Deaths In “Skid Row” Does It Take?

A homeless woman was stomped to death by a recently released inmate from the Twin Towers county jail. (Central City East Blogger writes more about it.) It was in the heart of “Skid Row.”

How many of these senseless deaths does it take, before we seriously deal with this lawlessness in Central City East? If this occurred in Brentwood, or Lakewood, or Whittier, these communities would mobilize against such actions faster than you could snap your fingers.

But for some reason, we just don’t care about the thousands of people homeless on “Skid Row” who are victimized and ignored. Sure, there is the token acknowledgement that “We need to do something!” But words are nothing.

The actions are just not there.

I have written before that our community needs to declare a “State of Emergency” for this area. Then we pump in as much social service resources that are necessary to take these people off the streets, and we allow law enforcement to really enforce the laws.

I’m wondering how many more deaths it will take, before the community is “disgusted” with this lawlessness, and really does something about it?

34 Homeless People In India Die Because of Heat Wave

Homeless deaths due to excessive heat is not only an Arizona phenomenon. Last summer, 32 homeless people in Phoenix died because of soaring temperatures.

We find out that as of yesterday, 34 homeless people have died in INDIA, as well. The temperatures hovered to 110 degrees. Of the 34 homeless people, two of these deaths were homeless children.

Sadly, our response to homelessness is par with a Third World country’s response to homelessness.

A Contract To End Dumping:Will It Work?

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council asked the city’s Chief Legislative Analyst to draw up a formal contract with hospitals, police agencies and other institutions to commit to stop the “dumping” of homeless people into downtown Los Angeles.

For the past year, there has been documented proof that the practice of “dumping” has occurred. Video tapes and law enforcement testimony are now real evidence.

The question is this… is this a non-binding, symbolic agreement? Or will these outlying entities really sign a formal contract? And if the agreement is broken, what would be the consequences?

This is similar to the State “Housing Element” laws where local cities are mandated to include affordable housing in their long-term housing plans. There are no consequences to non-compliance, so many local cities just don’t include plans for affordable housing. So the result… A majority of people in Los Angeles County cannot afford to buy a home. Another result… the increase of homelessness.

Back to “Anti-Dumping”… let’s say a suburban law enforcement agency is caught “dumping” a person into downtown Los Angeles. Who would penalize the agency? And what would be the penalty?

So what is the solution to “homeless dumping”? Remember the County’s $100 Million Homeless Prevention Initiative? $7 Million of this plan was for Regional Homeless Centers. The idea is for the outlying areas to have a place to send their homeless people for help, other than downtown Los Angeles.

A regional system of care for the homeless is a positive solution.

It is documented that outlying cities also have a homeless problem. So providing Regional Homeless Centers addresses both the need for suburban cities to have a place to send their homeless people, as well as the need for downtown Los Angeles to stop the flow of people coming into “Skid Row.”

It’s a WIN-WIN…

Summer Is Around The Corner:Will The Heat Kill More Homeless in Arizona?

Last summer, 32 people (most who were homeless) died because of the scorching heat in Phoenix, Arizona. I posted about this horrendous crisis last summer. Why would a society allow their most vulnerable people to die in the heat?

So what are they going to do this summer to prevent a repeat? “Proactive” is not always a word we think of, when it comes to government response to human tragedy (i.e., Katrina).

But the Associated Press is reporting that Phoenix officials are gearing up for another hot summer. They are creating safe havens for the homeless to escape the heat, stocking up on water, and gearing up street outreach teams to comb the streets for people in need.

Let’s see if these efforts will make a difference…